For forest departments world over, field staff is extremely important. It is this group that is out on the field, alert to the slightest of anomalies, including animal behaviour, and the first to respond to emergencies. So one wonders why the state forest department was sitting on more than 1,000 vacant posts of field staff till now, considering that it is responsible for the fauna of Gujarat. Currently, the department has gone into an overdrive to fill up the posts. Unfortunately, the price to yank it out of its slumber was too high—the death of 27 lions in the Gir forest.

The 27 lions died in Gir east in last one month. Of these, 23 died in Dalkhaniya range, one in Visavadar and three cubs in Tulsishyam. Most of the 23 deaths were because of Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) infection. Under fire for its lackadaisical approach in dealing with the deaths, the department has fasttracked the recruitment of field staff. There are 334 vacancies for guards alone.

According to top officials, in wake of the lion deaths, the forest department had made a special request to the General Administration Department (GAD) to speed up the recruitment process of guards. Subsequently, GAD issued a circular giving the department the go-ahead to directly fill up the vacancies, instead of waiting for the Gujarat Gaun Seva Pasandgi Mandal which has been assigned the task. Normally, it takes at least a year for the entire process to be completed. With the forest department set to do it directly, it is likely to be completed within three months. The social justice department responded with equal urgency, and the roster register, with details of break-up of posts, was readied within a short span of 15 days, said Principal Chief Conservator of Forest G K Sinha Not just guards, the recruitment of foresters and RFOs too has been speeded up. Exams for promotion of foresters to the level of RFOs were conducted between October 22 and 26, confirmed Sinha. He added, “We requested GPSC to conduct the exams on priority.”

“It is very important for us to have field staff. The RFOs, foresters and guards are the legs of our department; they personally visit the field and monitor the activities. We got in touch with the higher-ups and requested them to help speed up the pro- cess and approvals,” said Sinha. When the reports of lion deaths first appeared, the Dalkhaniya range, where the deaths were reported, was being headed by a forester as the RFO was away for training.

There were less than five other staff members against the sanctioned strength of 20 to serve in the range. According to top forest officials, following the deaths, staffers from other ranges have been deputed in Gir east. Also two IFS officials were sent back to Junagadh from their previous postings to help teams mitigate the issue.

Environment activist Mahesh Pandya said, “Had the recruitments been carried out earlier, the forest department would have had more personnel to monitor the field. They would have been able to spot the ailing lions earlier and saved at least a few of them. Overall wildlife in the state has been suffering because of the staff shortage. This is just the case of lions that has come to our notice, but the Great Indian Bustard and other endangered species have also been suffering.”

Severe staff crunch

The average deficit of staff in the state forest department is 26 per cent, with posts of assistant conservator of forest (ACF), range forest officers (RFO), foresters and beat guards lying vacant. Among all these, the lowest strength of field staff is of RFOs with 56 per cent deficit across the state. Against the sanctioned strength of 526, as many as 295 posts are lying vacant. An RFO’s role is significant in the sense that he heads the team of foresters and beat guards which monitors activities on the field. At the senior level, the State government has 77 Indian Forest Services (IFS) officials to serve in the forest department. As many as 15 IFS officers are on central deputation and 25 on state deputation in other ministries

All eyes on Gir

Following the high number of deaths of lions, several expert teams have been visiting the place. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Vijay Rupani too have been monitoring the developments closely.

Recently, the CM sanctioned Rs 250 crore for the new Shetrunji Division. According to Sinha, there would be fresh recruitments to make the division operational. Sources said that about 120 officials and the field staff would be required for the division, besides an officer of the level of Deputy Conservator of Forest.

Keeping a close watch

The forest department carried out a survey on October 24, which was a full moon night, to observe the overall wellness of animals in the area. It was during this survey that they rescued a sick lion from Ambardi, about 30 km from Dalkhaniya, and sent her for treatment. Meanwhile, 18 IFS officials visited Sasan Gir on Thursday for training on wildlife forensics. The collector of Gir-Somnath conducted a meeting for protection of lions. A meeting was held in Gir to devise a strategy for curbing undesirable activities like illegal farmhouses, resorts, illegal electric connections in fences, illegal mining and covering of wells besides carrying out vaccination drive for the animals.

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